Man sentenced to 15 years in Seville kidnapping of toddler

Carlos Torres Rivera was sentenced Monday after admitting to taking a toddler and abandoning her in a field because he was angry for being interrupted while having sex with the child's mother.

MARK I. JOHNSONSTAFF WRITER

A Crescent City man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for taking a 1-year-old girl from her mother and leaving her in a field in Seville.Carlos Torres Rivera pleaded no contest to kidnapping and child abuse charges for the November 2011 abduction, said State Attorney's Office spokeswoman Klare Ly. Rivera appeared in the DeLand courtroom of Circuit Judge Margaret Hudson on Monday and admitted to kidnapping Luptia Gonzalez because he was angry for being interrupted while having sex with the girl's mother at a party. Rivera, 24, abandoned the youngster under a bush in a field near some railroad tracks about two miles from the Lawrence Street residence where the party took place. He told investigators he was worried he might get in trouble for taking the toddler.Rivera also called 9-1-1 to report Lupita missing. A massive search that included the use of bloodhounds, a helicopter and a boat turned up Lupita unharmed more than 30 hours after she was kidnapped early the morning of Nov. 25.After his arrest, Rivera told investigators he had paid the child's mother, Leah Wiley, 31, for sex during the party but was interrupted when she was called into another room.A police report states Wiley failed to call authorities even though she suspected Rivera of taking the child because she did not want the girl's father to find out she had had sex with Rivera.In addition to 15 years for kidnapping, Hudson sentenced Rivera to five years in prison on the child abuse charge. The sentences are concurrent, Ly said.Court records show Wiley pleaded no contest to a charge of child neglect and is scheduled to appear before Judge Hudson for sentencing Wednesday.